“Weighting” to be kind

Finally, I am home. It was a good day which was busy. Busy is good. Busy equals movement which keeps my metabolism going. In short, it keeps my hand out of f the cookie jar…lol.

I am gradually adding a small amount of dried fruit to help keep me going. Today, I put some dried cranberries. I am conscious of sugar in dried fruit, and know too much is bad. It is just a little to add some flavor pops in my meal. I also have walnut halves to add some good fat into my diet.

The day, academically, was awesome. I try to be kind to the students, and I get good behavior in return.

I was a math teacher who additionally taught two classes to autistic students. It was great to see when I made some headway with them. The only lousy part about today? I slept poorly last night.

I have to work on that.

A Sunday in Spring

Jim and I were invited over to my godson Luca’s house for breakfast this morning.

I mean how can I not want to eat where I see this face! ** muah** It’s a two-fer when I get to see this face too!

We had homemade waffles that my friend Bella made. It was the first time we socialized while counting calories .As we knew what we were going to eat, we got to work the calories up so it wasn’t too bad. Luca and Matti’s parents are good friends of ours, and we always enjoy their company.

Now we know we can handle invitations out. The dietician visit also gave us some other ideas for menu choices out and different things for home. The rough part is I have to work this week and I need to make meals in advance. Hopefully that will turn out ok.

Weighting for…..

the rain to stop, so I can take Kasia for a walk.

Fortunately, I had work today which had me moving. I had special education for kindergarten, along with second and third grades. Meanwhile, back at home…

…my buddy,Kasia, waited patiently for me to get home. It’s funny, but she seems to know that she graduated from dog/ daughter to personal trainer. We all are moving so much more than we did from this past fall and winter, and it is reflected in us feeling a little bit better, mentally. I genuinely believe that is half the battle.

There are plenty of beautiful things to look at here during a walk, including this picture of the daffodils I saw before the rain. It makes you appreciate being here by the bay.

Let’s not forget my pretty girl Kasia.

But in the meantime, tomorrow we are going food shopping for the week. It will be the first time we will be trying fresh fish. You have to remember that we weren’t fish people, outside of tuna.We always seemed to go for seafood, such as scallops or shrimp. I admit that I was the one holding us back a bit, but I have gotten used to it now. I know it is better for us in the long run, and my body feels better a bit just in the first month of calorie counting. We are looking forward to trying the new recipes that the dietician found for us, in addition to kicking back and getting our batteries recharged.

Have a great weekend. Thanks for reading!

Weight a Minute!

Between the exercise of walking Kasia further, school and counting carbs and calories, I am officially down 12 1/2 pounds.

Take the picture above. Where Jim and I go out for dinner on Thursday nights, they have introduced this roasted red beet salad which is delicious. Six months I wouldn’t have thought so. Incredible what accountability will do.

The dietician looked at me as though she didn’t think I would do as well as I did on the scale. Easy to do, when you are tired of lugging the extra inches on your body.Our appointment today gave us a few ideas on trying twists in the menu to keep us satisfied and keep up our good work.

So we are going to keep on keeping on. This appointment marked one month since the initial appointment with the dietician. I’m going to keep doing what has been working for me, and not kill myself, as I realize that an almost 60 year old body goes slowly in some areas. Fortunately, there is no race. My body is happy, and I intend to keep it that way!

Want Exercise? Teach Pre-School

Instead of working my way up higher, I accepted an assignment to teach full day pre-school today. Long story short? My back is on a heating pad as I write this.

I was fortunate, as the children today, including two with autism, were really well behaved for pre-K. I walked my 10,000 steps today, most of it coming home from work. While in the classroom, I was basically on pint-sized level, commenting on coloring or other craft skill, reviewing printing, or reading stories: thus, the heating pad is on my back.

Lunchtime was good. I had a counted calorie lunch with cottage cheese and some raspberries and was comfortable, with no hunger pangs until my dinner time. The class had snack time, and for those who didn’t have a snack from home, they had the option of graham-crackers or goldfish crackers.

The work I do is so fulfilling. I am very glad I have the chance to do this now, at this point in my life. I just wish my body was in better shape. Hopefully, by slowly and safely losing this weight, I’ll be a little less achy after a good day in school.

Working the Weight.

I am slowly making my way down the food chain, and my body is happier with the slightly lighter load.

The one thing I miss is my Fitbit. I used to use a pedometer before Fitbit came out. I used mine until it died of natural causes. Now, my IPhone takes up the slack and, as long as I have my ballpark number in my head, it works for me.

There have been rough patches that just have been making me drool. For instance, that Geico commercial with the diner and lemon meringue pie?** sigh**….The fact that now everyone is promoting chicken and waffles? **sigh**

I have to listen to my body. It’s happy now.

I’d like to keep it that way, or even make it happier.

The Week That Will Be…..

I took the picture in this blog while I was walking Kasia today. I was amazed at the amount of daffodils planted around here.

Kasia was happy today, as we did our usual route and will tomorrow , but the rest of the week, well, I know she won’t be happy. Mom won’t be here- I’ll be working.

It’s going to be the first time since we moved that we both will be working on the same days. I have to think of meals for us both. Since we are doing the calorie counting, it’s taking some thought into the meal preparation. Hopefully, they’ll come out well. I know Kasia will be happy Mom will be home to make her dinner. Now, if Jim’s dinners for work come out well, everyone will be happy.

40

There would have been a time I would have been in Wisconsin today. I would have joined my family for my niece Alexandra, or Alyx, as she liked to be called, and celebrated her birthday. Talk about fun times and an adorable girl.

When she was 18, unfortunately,we lost her to a mid-brain tumor. Now her birthdays are in heaven. My father joined her the following August, and my mom joined her in 2012. My Zush joined her in 2017.

I am at the age where I celebrate Alyx’s birth. I wished she were for her brother’s wedding, my wedding, and my nephew Matt’s wedding. I knew she was enjoying the seats in the skybox.

Happy 40th Alyx. Cioci misses you, but know you are up there with our family. Make sure Babci makes you a heavenly 1-2-3-4 cake.

Slacker

Kasia is muttering “Slacker” under her breath at me. We had two days where walking was giving us roughly 10,000-15,000 steps daily, but not today.

She is on week one of two weeks of medicine from the vet, and she is still hobbling, albeit not as badly as she was. As for me, my muscles are aching from all this walking, so we determined this is a down day for us.

The weather has picked up, so we are walking more, Kasia seems to realize that we are going further each time. I laugh because sometimes she turns to look at me, as if sayin,” Mom, are you feeling ok?” When I wouldn’t be feeling well I would tell het that Momma isn’t feeling well, especially if my back was flaring up.

I figure, working slowly so neither of us gets hurt, that we’d be able to walk down by the bay by June. Maybe we’ll walk further by the end of September. My key is to make Kasia and I healthier. We’ll do it one day at a time.

Number? What Number?

Tomorrow we have an appointment with the hospital dietician for our second visit.

As our first was in the beginning fo the month, we have a few weeks under our belt now. We are supposed to bring our calorie book that each meal that we have eaten is recorded in. This we have done religiously.

According to our new scale that we brought for home, we have both dropped weight. I love going to the dietician and getting on the official scale, because I know the hospital scale and my scale will probably give me two different numbers. According to our scale here, my number is pretty satisfactory.

When we go tomorrow, one thing we are going to discuss is menu ideas. I mean, seriously?As I have been working more than I have been, I need quick and easy breakfasts for me too. Hopefully, tomorrow she will turn the page and let us branch out to low calorie, tasty things that we like, and not even mutter the word quinoa. The dietician is pretty good, so I hope that we’ll leave the office with good ideas.